The 2025 MLB Draft is today. Join us to see who the Cubs will take. It won’t be Kade Anderson (pictured).
The 2025 MLB Draft starts tonight at 5 p.m. CT with rounds 1 through 3. The Nationals are on the clock. The Cubs have the 17th pick of the first round. You can watch the draft on MLB Network or the first round on ESPN. The draft will also be available for free streaming at MLB.com and MLB.tv.
This year’s draft doesn’t have a clear number one and so there’s a lot of uncertainty as to how things will go. Adding to this is that the Nationals fired general manager Mike Rizzo just a week ago and no one knows what interim GM Mike DeBartolo is thinking. Nats scouting director Danny Haas remains so there is some continuity, but generally the GM makes the final call on who the first round draft pick will be.
For weeks, the choice seemed to be between LSU left-hander Kade Anderson and Stillwater, Oklahoma High School shortstop Ethan Holliday, younger brother of the Orioles Jackson Holliday and son of All-Star outfielder Matt Holliday, with Anderson being a slight favorite. However, recent rumors have raised the possibility of an under slot deal with Fort Cobb-Braxton HS (OK) shortstop Eli Willits, the son former Angels outfielder Reggie Willits. Whether that’s real or just an attempt to get Anderson or Holliday to lower their bonus demands, I guess we’ll find out tonight.
One thing does seem certain. If Ethan Holliday isn’t taken in the first three picks, the Rockies will take the son of their former star.
My preview of the Cubs draft is here, and be sure to read that if you haven’t already. Everyone wants to draft a superstar in the first round, but there are only a couple of those in every draft. With the 17th pick in the first round, you’re just hoping to get a solid major leaguer.
Here’s a quick review of the first round picks by the Cubs since the current scouting director Dan Kantrovitz took over, along with the overall number that they were taken in the draft:
2020 (16): Ed Howard SS Mt. Carmel HS (IL)
2021 (21): Jordan Wicks LHP Kansas State
2022 (7): Cade Horton RHP Oklahoma
2023 (13): Matt Shaw SS Maryland
2024 (14): Cam Smith 3B Florida State
The 2020 draft looks like a clear miss at the moment, but that was a terrible draft to scout since no one was actually playing any games during the pandemic. The other four picks look like good selections, Wicks’ recent struggles notwithstanding. Just getting a major leaguer is considered a “hit” in the draft, especially if you aren’t picking in the top 10, and the last four picks have all played in the majors.
But the Cubs have a clear preference for college players over high school players in the first round. Sine Theo Epstein came to the Cubs in 2012, Albert Almora Jr. (2012) and Ed Howard (2020) are the only high school players they’ve taken in the first round.
My Cubs draft preview has other details on Cubs preferences. They do like to take some high school players in the second or third rounds and the past two years they’ve taken big swings on tough-to-sign high schoolers in the 11th round. One of those players was Zyhir Hope, who is currently a Top 100 prospect and was traded to the Dodgers to get Michael Busch.
This is an open thread to discuss the first three rounds of the draft tonight. I will post a “Welcome to the Cubs family” piece after the first round pick is made. I will update it with the second and third round picks.